Bashar's Victory

Doaa Eladl, September 4, 2015.

Little Aylan Kurdi was turned into an icon the minute the photos of him were released this week. Most of the cartoons on him have focused on the hypocrisy of Europe (Hey, mythological Europa crossed the Mediterranean riding on the back of Zeus transformed into the bull) and Doaa Eladl created the dance macabre of media attention. Who are the truly dead?

He himself has remained untouchable all through the drawings. For one thing he is sadly only recognizable lying in that very position considering how many Syrian children have already been drawn sharing his fate. And then he is given the respect of not adding to his plight, giving him a little of the protection he did not have in time.

But there is a reason for children and their parents drowning in the Mediterranean and Khalid Wad Albaih is pointing directly at one culprit Bashar al-Assad. It is a constant point of debate whether to give him the limelight in cartoons as opposed to giving those struggling for freedom a face, but Assad has thrived on the visibility of other evildoers. He was the reason for the civil war, way before IS or any other factors, as Khalid Wad Albaih points out.

Besides, his piercing the hearts of his countrymen is precisely on what he builds his regime. His red tie combines him to the child and the flag; he is an actor, not just a shadow.

Khalid Wad Albaih, Bashar's Victory, September 4, 2015.

The cartoons shown are courtesy of their artists and must not be reproduced without their permission.